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on Innovation |
| By: | Kriesch, Lukas (Justus Liebig University Giessen); Losacker, Sebastian (Justus Liebig University Giessen) |
| Abstract: | Many governments worldwide have proposed transitioning from a fossil-based economy to a bioeconomy to address climate change, resource depletion, and other environmental concerns. The bioeconomy utilizes renewable biological resources across all sectors and is strongly founded on scientific advances and technological progress. Given that the bioeconomy spans multiple sectors, industries, and technological fields, tracking it is challenging, and both policymakers and researchers lack a comprehensive understanding of the bioeconomy transition's progress. We aim to solve this problem by providing a dataset on patents, a commonly used indicator to study the development of novel knowledge and technological change, that identifies bioeconomy-related inventions. We leverage the advanced semantic understanding embedded in pre-trained transformer models to identify bioeconomy-related patents based on patent abstracts, and we use a topic modelling approach to identify several coherent technological fields within the corpus of bioeconomy patents. The dataset can be linked to other patent databases and therefore provides rich opportunities to study the technological knowledge base of the bioeconomy. |
| Keywords: | Patents; Bioeconomy; Natural Language Processing; Innovation |
| JEL: | O31 O34 Q16 Q55 |
| Date: | 2024–06–11 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:lucirc:2024_008&r= |
| By: | Robin Cowan; Nicolas Jonard; Ruth Samson |
| Abstract: | Many scholars observed changes in the intellectual property rights systems in the 1980s and 1990s throughout the world. Patent systems in particular seemed to be expanding their scope, and the legal system seemed to be changing its attitudes towards intellectual property rights. At the same time, and probably in response, firms started to change their patenting behaviour — treating patents as tools of competition and bargaining rather than as a means to protect the fruits of intellectual labour. In this paper we present a simulation model that can be used to discuss that shift. Firms search for new technologies and patent what they find. But different firms have different strategies: one is to protect an invention; a second is to protect a technology space; the third is to attack others’ technology spaces. In the literature the latter two have been described as different types of blocking. We examine different IPR regimes, characterized by who is able to infringe whose patent rights. This is an extreme case of who is able to extract rents from a given configuration of patent rights. |
| Keywords: | Innovation, Patents, Knowledge network, Blocking strategies. |
| JEL: | O31 O34 C6 L5 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ulp:sbbeta:2024-20&r= |
| By: | Dobbelaere, Sabien (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam); König, Michael D. (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam); Spescha, Andrin (ETH Zurich); Wörter, Martin (ETH Zurich) |
| Abstract: | The fraction of R&D active firms decreased in Switzerland but increased in the Netherlands from 2000-2016. This paper examines reasons for this divergence and its impact on productivity growth. Our micro-data reveal R&D concentration among high-productivity firms in Switzerland. Innovation support sustains firms' R&D activities in both countries. Our structural growth model identifies the impact of innovation, imitation and R&D costs on firms' R&D decisions. R&D costs gained importance in Switzerland but not in the Netherlands, explaining the diverging R&D trends. Yet, counterfactual analyses show that policies should prioritize enhancing innovation and imitation success over cost reduction to boost productivity growth. |
| Keywords: | R&D, innovation, imitation, R&D costs, policy, productivity growth, traveling wave |
| JEL: | E61 E65 D22 O31 O47 O52 |
| Date: | 2024–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17026&r= |
| By: | Zhang, Min; Rodríguez-Pose, Andrés |
| Abstract: | Innovation is key for economic growth and well-being. The capacity for innovation, however, is profoundly influenced by the quality of local institutions. Although the impact of national institutions on innovation is well-documented, the effects of subnational institutional variations on innovation remain underexplored. This paper studies the impact of government agency reforms, designed to enhance local government effectiveness, on the innovation performance of city-regions in China. We examine the adoption of these reforms between 2009 and 2016 as an exogenous shock to regional institutions. Our analysis identifies a positive and significant relationship between improvements in institutional quality and the innovation performance of Chinese city-regions, particularly pronounced in regions with medium to high levels of innovation. The results are robust to a series of checks including placebo and endogeneity tests and potential confounding policies. This research highlights the critical role of government institutions in driving innovation across China, bringing the fore important regional variations in the adoption of government agency reforms that are defining the country’s innovation landscape. |
| Keywords: | institutions; government quality; institutional reform; regional innovation; China; REF fund |
| JEL: | R11 O11 |
| Date: | 2024–06–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:122728&r= |
| By: | Raquel Ortega-Argilés (The University of Manchester, The Productivity Institute); Pei-Yu Yuan (The Productivity Institute) |
| Keywords: | Research collaborations, Public support for R&D and innovation, UK, levelling-up, regional development |
| JEL: | O30 O40 R50 |
| Date: | 2024–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:anj:wpaper:046&r= |
| By: | Campbell, Douglas; Brodeur, Abel; Johannesson, Magnus; Kopecky, Joseph; Lusher, Lester; Tsoy, Nikita |
| Abstract: | Aghion, Van Reenen and Zingales (2013) find that institutional ownership causes an increase in innovation as measured by citation-weighted patent counts. To identify a causal effect, they use membership in the S&P 500 as an instrument for institutional ownership in a panel regression. We first replicate all regression tables in Aghion et al., and then test for robustness, mainly by adding in firm and sector*year fixed effects. We find that the positive relationship between institutional ownership and innovation is robust in 22% of robustness checks. On average, 2nd stage z-scores were just 42.7% of the original study. We find that when we include firm fixed effects, membership in the S&P 500 actually has a negative (though significant only at the 10% level) impact on institutional ownership (among non-indexed funds). Lastly, we find that the original control-function IV regression suffers from multi-collinearity, complicating inference. |
| Keywords: | Innovation, Patents, Institutional Investment |
| JEL: | G23 G32 L25 M10 O31 O34 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:i4rdps:134&r= |
| By: | Elert, Niklas (Institute of Retail Economics (HFI)); Henrekson, Magnus (Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN)) |
| Abstract: | Many countries have implemented quasi-markets to enhance entrepreneurship and innovation in welfare service provision. However, the benefits have generally been limited; this can also be observed in Sweden, a country which stands out for its extensive use of quasi-markets. Based on the Swedish experience, we contend that quasi-markets can unlock their innovation potential only under a suitable institutional framework. By analyzing the development of quasi-markets in schools and eldercare nursing homes, we demonstrate that competition and profit incentives, though crucial, are insufficient catalysts for innovation in quasi-market contexts. Such markets demand a set of supporting institutions of an epistemic nature. These institutions should enable users to make knowledgeable choices and motivate entrepreneurial providers to compete and innovate in ways that align with user preferences. |
| Keywords: | Entrepreneurship; Innovation; Innovation Policy; Marketized care; Merit goods; Quasi-markets; Welfare services |
| JEL: | H42 H44 H75 I22 I28 L88 O31 |
| Date: | 2024–05–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:iuiwop:1489&r= |
| By: | Groenewegen-Lau, Jeroen |
| Abstract: | China wants to become a science, technology, and manufacturing superpower by upgrading and modernizing its industrial base and concentrating the nation’s innovation resources around strategic priorities. However, in this policy brief, Jeroen Groenewegen-Lau, head of the Science, Technology and Innovation program at MERICS, argues that it is difficult for the state to integrate innovation resources because of the gap separating universities and research organizations from industry, which impedes the translation of scientific output into technological prowess. By contrast, Beijing has been much more successful at directing industrial development. As a result, he says, achieving a modernized industrial base is now the dominant framework for Chinese policymakers as they pursue technological self-reliance. |
| Keywords: | Social and Behavioral Sciences, china, chinese communist party, science and technology, innovation |
| Date: | 2024–02–29 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdl:globco:qt60k645k5&r= |
| By: | Conlé, Marcus |
| Abstract: | In pursuit of technological development, China has created new organizations to promote innovation. In this brief, Marcus Conlé, an associate at the German Institute for Global and Area Studies (GIGA), examines New Research and Development Institutes (NRDIs), which are designed to foster knowledge transfer to industry. NRDIs were pioneered in Guangdong province in the 1990s, and have gained prominence in China’s national science, technology, and innovation policies since the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-2020). NRDIs are defined by their market orientation and extremely flexible organizational form. They work by establishing “innovation platforms” with local governments and private knowledge actors to carry out research and development (R&D), commercialize scientific and technological achievements, incubate local technology industries, and cultivate high-end talent. NRDIs have been instrumental to regional development in Guangdong, and especially Shenzhen, where they have succeeded in attracting talent from outside the region. NRDIs have important policy implications for international competition for talent. Understanding NRDIs is crucial for other countries that want to improve their own inter-regional innovation resources and respond to the challenge of China’s drive to attract global talent and knowledge resources. |
| Keywords: | Social and Behavioral Sciences, Guangdong, research and development, technology, innovation |
| Date: | 2024–03–21 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdl:globco:qt6rr023j0&r= |
| By: | Ruveyda Nur Gozen |
| Abstract: | How do stronger property rights for disadvantaged groups affect innovation? I investigate the impact of strengthened property rights for women on U.S. innovation by analyzing the Married Women's Property Acts, which granted equal property rights to women starting in 1845 in New York State. I examine the universe of granted patents from 1790 until 1901, exploiting the staggered adoption of the laws over time across states. The strengthening of women's property rights led to a 40% increase in patenting activity among women in the long run, with effects peaking about a decade after the laws were introduced. Importantly, women's innovations were not of lower quality (as measured by a novelty index based on patent text analysis) and did not generate negative effects on male innovation. Finally, I show that the main mechanism was through higher human capital accumulation among women inventors and innovation incentives, rather than an increase in participation in STEM fields, labor force participation, or relieving financial frictions. |
| Keywords: | innovations, gender, property rights, economic development |
| Date: | 2024–06–11 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp2005&r= |
| By: | Fossen, Frank M. (University of Nevada, Reno); McLemore, Trevor (University of Nevada, Reno); Sorgner, Alina (John Cabot University) |
| Abstract: | This survey reviews emerging but fast-growing literature on impacts of artificial intelligence (AI) on entrepreneurship, providing a resource for researchers in entrepreneurship and neighboring disciplines. We begin with a review of definitions of AI and show that ambiguity and broadness of definitions adopted in empirical studies may result in obscured evidence on impacts of AI on en-trepreneurship. Against this background, we present and discuss existing theory and evidence on how AI technologies affect entrepreneurial opportunities and decision-making under uncertainty, the adoption of AI technologies by startups, entry barriers, and the performance of entrepreneurial businesses. We add an original empirical analysis of survey data from the German Socio-economic Panel revealing that entrepreneurs, particularly those with employees, are aware of and use AI technologies significantly more frequently than paid employees. Next, we discuss how AI may affect entrepreneurship indirectly through impacting local and sectoral labor markets. The reviewed evidence suggests that AI technologies that are designed to automate jobs are likely to result in a higher level of necessity entrepreneurship in a region, whereas AI technologies that transform jobs without necessarily displacing human workers increase the level of opportunity entrepreneurship. More generally, AI impacts regional entrepreneurship ecosystems (EE) in multiple ways by altering the importance of existing EE elements and processes, creating new ones, and potentially reducing the role of geography for entrepreneurship. Lastly, we address the question of how regulation of AI may affect the entrepreneurship landscape by focusing on the case of the European Union that has pioneered data protection and AI legislation. We conclude our survey by discussing implications for entrepreneurship research and policy. |
| Keywords: | artificial intelligence, machine learning, entrepreneurship, AI startups, digital entrepreneurship, opportunity, innovation, entrepreneurship ecosystem, digital entrepreneurship ecosystem, AI regulation |
| JEL: | J24 L26 O30 |
| Date: | 2024–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17055&r= |
| By: | Koch, Michael (The Ratio Institute); Lodefalk, Magnus (The Ratio Institute) |
| Abstract: | We use individual survey data providing detailed information on stress, technology adoption, and work, worker, and employer characteristics, in combination with recent measures of AI and robot exposure, to investigate how new technologies affect worker stress. We find a persistent negative relationship, suggesting that AI and robots could reduce the stress level of workers. We furthermore provide evidence on potential mechanisms to explain our findings. Overall, the results provide suggestive evidence of modern technologies changing the way we perform our work in a way that reduces stress and work pressure. |
| Keywords: | Artificial intelligence technologies; Automation; Task content; Skills; Stress |
| JEL: | I31 J24 J28 J44 N34 O33 |
| Date: | 2024–06–14 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ratioi:0377&r= |
| By: | Benatti, Nicola; Groiss, Martin; Kelly, Petra; Lopez-Garcia, Paloma |
| Abstract: | We examine the extent to which environmental regulation affects innovation and which policy types provide the strongest incentives to innovate. Using a local projection framework, we estimate the regulatory impact on patenting activity over a five-year horizon. As a proxy for environmental policy exposure, we estimate firm-level greenhouse gas emissions using a machine learning algorithm. At the country-level, policy tightening is largely associated with no statistically significant change in environmental technology innovation. At the firm-level, however, environmental policy tightening leads to higher innovation activity in technologies mitigating climate change, while the effect on innovation in other technologies is muted. This suggests that environmental regulation does not lead to a crowding-out of non-clean innovations. The policy type matters, as increasing the stringency of technology support policies and non-market based policies leads to increases in clean technology patenting, while we do not find a statistically significant impact of market-based policies. JEL Classification: O44, Q52, Q58 |
| Keywords: | emissions, environmental regulation, euro area, innovation, Porter hypothesis |
| Date: | 2024–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecb:ecbwps:20242946&r= |
| By: | Elisa Rodepeter; Christoph Gschnaidtner; Hanna Hottenrott |
| Abstract: | Big Data (BD) is becoming widely available and manageable. This raises the question of whether Big Data Analytics (BDA) in companies leads to better decision-making and hence performance. Based on a large, representative set of start-ups in Germany, we study the adoption of BDA among small and young ventures and analyze its economic effects using various short- and longer-term performance measures. We investigate the effect of adopting BDA on the new ventures’ cost structure, sales, profits, survival rate, growth, and their probability of receiving Venture Capital (VC) financing while taking into account fac- tors that drive BDA adoption. Our findings, however, show that using BDA does not lead to an immediate competitive advantage in terms of the classical short-term performance measures. BDA adoption is rather associated with greater sales/profit uncertainty, higher (personnel) costs, and a higher probability of failure. Yet, the increased risk of adopt- ing BDA is compensated by a prospect of higher long-term performance conditional on survival. BDA-adopting start-ups perform better than comparable ones when considering longer-term performance measures such as their growth and their ability to secure VC. |
| Keywords: | Big data, Innovation, Productivity, Start-ups, Survival, Venture capital |
| Date: | 2024–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bav:wpaper:232_rodepeter_et_al&r= |
| By: | Robin Cowan; Nicolas Jonard |
| Abstract: | This paper develops a simple model of academic research to analyse knowledge flows within a research system, when demand for multi-disciplinarity varies. Scientists are embedded in departments, linked to all others in the department, as well as to a small number of others outside the department. Pairs of scientists collaborate to produce ‘papers’. They can collaborate successfully with their direct links provided the distances in knowledge space between partners are within specified upper and lower bounds. By creating new knowledge, co-authors converge in their knowledge endowments, and the distance between them can fall below the lower bound. This is mitigated in two ways: extra-departmental links; and an intermittent job market in which scientists can change departments. In a simulation model we find that increasing the extent of extra-departmental links, and increasing job market activity both improve aggregate knowledge production. These two modes of knowledge diffusion are, however, substitutes rather than complements: increasing both does not improve performance over increasing only one. In addition, we find that increasing demands for multi-disciplinarity (essentially increasing the lower bound on knowledge distance for effective collaboration) generally decreases knowledge production. |
| Keywords: | economics of science; multi-disciplinarity; academic labour mobility; knowledge production. |
| JEL: | I23 I28 O39 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ulp:sbbeta:2024-21&r= |
| By: | L. Dary Beltran; Manuel Alejandro Cardenete; Ferran Sancho |
| Abstract: | The production of goods and services for final demand may require the use of technological inputs, such as direct spending on research and development (R&D) and other technological services. An economy?s dynamism depends largely on how these inputs shape the production structure. In this work, we implement a computational procedure to obtain the total technological content, both direct and indirect, embodied in the goods available for final demand, including exports. This methodology enables us to categorize productive activities based on their technological content and reveal the underlying structural patterns. We illustrate this methodology?s possibilities using input-output data from the Spanish economy. |
| Keywords: | Technological inputs; Total technological content; Input-output R&D data |
| JEL: | C67 D57 O33 |
| Date: | 2024–06–19 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aub:autbar:976.24&r= |
| By: | Arcesati, Rebecca |
| Abstract: | As strategic rivalry between Beijing and Washington centers on new technologies, a trend towards decoupling and deglobalization is challenging the global links upon which China’s artificial intelligence (AI) sector has relied for a long time. This means that Beijing’s AI development strategy must contend with an erosion of global interdependencies. This policy brief from Rebecca Arcesati, a lead analyst at MERICS, examines three key elements of China’s response: an infrastructure megaproject for computing power, a “whole-of-nation” approach to developing AI foundation models, and efforts to forge connections with foreign innovation systems beyond the United States. None of these come without challenges. |
| Keywords: | Social and Behavioral Sciences, china, artificial intelligence, technology, deglobalization |
| Date: | 2024–05–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdl:globco:qt7qw2q174&r= |
| By: | Cao, Cong |
| Abstract: | China’s remarkable rise as an international technology and innovation powerhouse comes courtesy of domestic efforts to upgrade its scientific enterprise. In this brief, Cong Cao, a professor in innovation studies at Nottingham University Ningbo China, argues that the globalization of science has also played a significant role, fostering links between Chinese and international researchers, allowing Chinese students to study abroad, and attracting foreign direct investment to China’s research sector. However, as pressures in Western countries to decouple from China mount, the future of China’s science, technology, and innovation system faces strong headwinds. |
| Keywords: | Social and Behavioral Sciences, china, innovation, globalization, study abroad, foreign direct investments |
| Date: | 2024–05–30 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdl:globco:qt74j7h65s&r= |
| By: | Krause, Juljan |
| Abstract: | Quantum computing is poised to unleash innovation across various sectors, from materials science to pharmaceutical and medical research, finance, logistics, and even climate change management. Quantum computing also has the potential to provide the backbone for future artificial intelligence and autonomous systems that cannot be realized with digital hardware alone, while quantum communication can strengthen security in cyberspace. For these reasons, quantum technologies feature prominently in the emerging technologies race between the United States and China. In this policy brief, IGCC postdoctoral fellow Juljan Krause analyzes China’s advances in quantum communication, which aim to signal China’s technological leadership while protecting Chinese communications from foreign surveillance. He argues that Chinese leadership in quantum communication will have strategic repercussions, particularly as it is likely to give China’s efforts to shape global industry standards additional momentum. Even if quantum communication has no immediate military implications, policymakers should consider how the technology could embolden China further. |
| Keywords: | Social and Behavioral Sciences, quantum race, united states, china, quantum technology |
| Date: | 2024–02–28 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdl:globco:qt4fd2j1k9&r= |
| By: | Ahlers, Anna L |
| Abstract: | In this policy brief, Anna L. Ahlers, founder and head of the Lise Meitner Research Group at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science (MPIWG), analyzes the Chinese Communist Party, which seeks to permeate every aspect of China’s social and economic life—including the realm of science, technology, and innovation. Chinese leadership has heightened calls for technological self-reliance and boosting indigenous innovation, but still recognizes the importance of foreign expertise and international collaboration for China’s domestic scientific efforts. Contradictions in the party’s approach to domestic science abound, and despite a visible politicization of scientific institutions, no discernable impact on China’s scientific production can be seen—yet. The Communist Party’s attempts to grow its influence in domestic science institutions nevertheless pose long-term risks to the quality of the country’s scientific output. |
| Keywords: | Social and Behavioral Sciences, chinese communist party, science technology and innovation |
| Date: | 2024–04–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdl:globco:qt1kj6r9q8&r= |